Wow, it's windy today

Apparently, we're having a bit of a Nor'Easter - wind like you see in movies. I guess it's all over the news. I like the sound of the wind, it's like music. As long as the trees stay upright, we're good. Thankfully, it's not too cold yet and the leaves are still so beautiful. We're in good hands, so don't worry. Being a small town, when the weather becomes an issue, the local police and fire departments activate their automated phone trees to keep people informed in the event of a Coastal Evacuation (holy crap!). There's also the local alert system, kind of like a town-wide intercom, that broadcasts in the event of an emergency (sometimes I think they play it just to mess with us). You just need to know which alerts mean what - we haven't mastered that one yet. It's especially helpful on snow days - "ding dong, ding dong - Rumson Schools are Closed' - this morning the kids asked if it was a "Wind Day" - ha, good try guys -NO, go get ready for school.

In keeping with the theme, do you remember this song - The Wind, such a beautiful song. I will never forget hearing Teaser and the Firecat for the first time. Elementary school, at Suzy Gebers house, listenting to the LP, (yes, I said LP, it was a long time ago, ok) Cat Stevens, dreamy eyes, cool voice, amazing lyrics. I still know the words to all of those songs - WHY??? I have one of those brains. Lyrics stay in my head, ask my family, it's a little scary. When I got my first record player (yep, even before 8 tracks) my favorite group was The Carpenters, (a far cry from Cat Stevens, but they were 'good clean kids'). Go ahead, ask me to sing any of their songs and chances are I'll know all the words. I used to sit in my room with my headphones on singing away. My sister would open my door and all I could see was her mouthing the words, "you can't really sing, you know" - oh well. I have no idea if I can sing, but it feels good and I know all the words! I always wonder how much more cranial capacity I'd have if I could do a lyric data dump. Man, the stuff I could remember.

Anyhow, stay warm and dry.

xoxo,

P

Alone at last ......... ahhhhh

Finalmente! Everyone's back in school. After two long weeks of Monopoly, Blokus, Pokemon Yahtzee, a gazillion hours of cartoons, a bunch of Wii, and a plethora of drugs (not me, them!) -the kids are healthy and it's back to school man. I'm sitting here enjoying my second cup of coffee, blasting The Verve 'Bittersweet Symphony' - smiling 'cause it's snowing again - knowing that I can finally get all my stuff done at warp speed! Don't get me wrong, I love my kids more than anything in this world - but it's tought to be home with them (one, both or all three) for so long and not go a little nuts! So today, I reclaim my space! (Oh cool - Supertramp 'Even in the Quietest Moments' - apropos).

I did sneak out last Friday night. With Andrew as my date, (Thomas was on duty at the infirmary) we attended the Rumson Fair Haven Crew Fundraiser, aptly named 'Frostbite Regatta'. A big group of people I don't know who know we're 'the people from California' required a big deep breath of gumption (read: one speed glass of chardonnay). The Crew community here is friendly, generous and deservedly proud of how far their program has come in a few short years. (Ah, Tom Petty 'Here Comes My Girl'). Apparently, at Andrew's first Erg practice, his coach greeted him with "Please tell me you're a triplet" - they love tall, skinny guys. Anyhow, we got to meet Bobby Ojeda and Dan Beery. Turns out, Ojeda lives in our neighborhood (well a few streets up where the lots are huge), and the nicest guy. Dan Beery didn't pick up an oar until he was 21 and look how that turned out - Olympic Gold! (Paul McCartney 'Maybe I'm Amazed'). Hey, no pressure Andrew!

There's at least an inch of new snow on the ground - it's all twirly and beautiful - snowflakes the size of jumbo marshmallows. 'The snow reminded me of the beauty and mystery of creation, of the essential joy that is life.'—from Snow, by Orhan Pamuk, thanks for sharing that quote MKB. (Sheryl Crow 'I'm Gonna Follow the Sun' - hey, that's cold!)

My BFF in HMB (I can't believe I actually just typed that) is on a mission of cleansing - body, not house. She informed me that she's not doing wine during the week - you go girl friend - I'll be doing wine all week! (Not sure why I find the doing part so funny, but I do).

Anyhoooo - I'm so proud of Kurt Warner, you go old man - except for that last kind of pathetic play - they had a shot and I loved watching it with the big men in the house. We laughed, screamed, cheered and ate 'snacks' (read: crappy carbs). (Rod Stewart 'Forever Young'). And is Bruce not the epitome of cool - hey, I don't endorse that link, it's just that I wanted to make sure I spelled 'epitome' correctly, and GOOGLE, (like: voila) this link came up - interesting list though.

On a similar note, check out my virtual bookshelf on FB in the next few days. I'm adding some "Want to Reads" of historically challenging proportions, thanks for the recommendations AZ. (Colbie Caillet 'Bubbly' & Sarah Bareilles 'Love Song' - two of the coolest female voices today!)

So, hopefully you're all caught up, had a little laugh and a sampling of my quirky music taste. Need to shift into Warp Speed now. (Chris Brown 'Forever').

I'll leave you with - Eric Clapton 'Tears in Heaven' - this one's for my sister, I love you. And one of the best, live in the present songs - John Mayer 'Say'.

xoxo P

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

This is the scene we woke up to this morning, it is absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful. There is something so pure about it. It's a study in shades of white - there's a subtle green that comes through the leaves, and a gentle pink peaking through the red fire hydrant, and a faint taupe beneath the bare branches. And then there's white, bright white.

It started snowing last night, and I stood at the front door thinking, 'holy crud', and then, 'the boys are gonna love waking up to this tomorrow morning'. The streets are clear, which means either the snow plow came by (wishful thinking) or it's just warm enough (HA!) to keep it from sticking to the road. But the landscape is dusted in powdered sugar and it's just wonderful!

Our Christmas tree, that I promptly placed in a bucket of H2O yesterday and left outside to let the branches settle, just like I do every year - looks beautiful with snow on it's branches. Problem is the bucket of water is now a popsicle with the trunk as the stick and I have to get the snow off to bring it inside - what a Goober!

Happy Day to all, time for a second cuppa!

xoxo P